Technically, cloth is a "deforming non-rigid surface," so projecting a stable image onto clothes is a big technological challenge. To solve it, Ishikawa Watanabe Laboratory combined two new techniques that allow stable projection of an image onto clothes even as they move.

Projection mapping is one of the most profound visual effects that computers can generate; themepark fans will have seen it in effect on the revamped opening scene to the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland and in the night-time shows that involve painting the whole castle with light (projection mapping is also used to generate the rear-projected faces of the animatronic figures in the new Snow White ride).

Eugene Pylinsky (aka Pylik) put together this outsized 3D modeling animation to be projected on a pillared facade. The result uses the space in creative and surprising ways.

credit: Nobumichi Asai

The high-speed car technology ride Test Track at Walt Disney World's (Orlando, Florida) EPCOT theme park has been closed since June 17, 2024, for a retheming. Until now, Disney has been uncharacteristically closed-lipped about how the ride will be updated.

But this week, Disney finally announced the ride's re-opening date, July 22, 2025, as well as several aspects of the new ride, which will include include a new musical score, a road trip through a forest, and maybe even by the ocean, as well as a demonstration of LiDAR technology. — Read the rest

The Dark Universe portal in Universal Orlando's new theme park, Epic Universe, is set in the impeccably rendered Darkmoor Village, a possibly Transylvanian setting themed for Universal's classic monster roster.

I was with a group of writers who spoke to Peter Carsillo, Senior Creative Director at Universal Creative, and he stressed how important it was to make Darkmoor a fully realized, fully immersive land. — Read the rest

Dynaflash is a projector that maps a moving, deforming surface at 1000 frames per second, meaning that it can cast a stable image on it no matter how wild its gyrations. One caveat: it requires the target surface to have an invisible infrared grid on it. — Read the rest

"Improving Automobile Safety by Removing Blind Spots" is 14 year old Alaina Gassler's prizewinning science-fair project, which uses cameras mounted to the exterior of the car and feeding their video to internal projectors, which projection-map them onto the a-pillars that otherwise obscure the driver's view.

Sydney's annual Vivid festival fills the harbour with barges equipped with powerful projectors that use the buildings ringing the harbour (especially the iconic Sydney Opera House) as geometrically complex screens for projection-mapped lightshows, synchronised to music.

The Las Vegas boneyard of discarded neon signs got a brilliant makeover this month thanks to projection-mapped images that made the still-broken signs look like they were working again. The project was a benefit for The Neon Museum.

A hockey rink is the perfect surface for contemporary projection mapping imagery, which was not lost on Raduga Design. Their design for the Chicago Blackhawks' game-opening sequence gives an impressive 3D effect from the booth.

The most reliably impressive technology I've played with this decade is projection-mapping: using powerful LCD projectors to paint 3D surfaces with images tailored to map exactly over those surfaces, turning plaster and paint into stone, wood, or animated surfaces.

It was a projection mapper's dream: a white canvas 30 feet high and wider than a football field. Megavision Arts was able to make the most of it with a dizzying and hypnotic projection mapped lightshow that dazzled the 1200 guests entering the temporary venue in the desert.

https://youtu.be/-BEicc8nrfY

This is a demonstration of Omote, a real-time face tracking and projection mapping system.

Inspired by quantum physics, Gaspar Battha created a gorgeous mirrored projection mapping installation using grays, blues, and blacks, then set it to a hypnotic piano. Take five minutes and let your mind wander.

This dramatic video from Bot and Dolly shows off their robotic camera systems by projection mapping a 3D animation onto two screens as they're waved around by one and a half ton robotic arms. In July, Boing Boing co-sponsored the Robot Film Festival held in their incredible studios. — Read the rest

Ben Purdy made this "real life" Minecraft block. Very cool!

Now that I'm working on projection mapping it was only a matter of time before this happened. Thanks to my brother for the inspiration, he mentioned that one of the other projection mapping examples looked a bit like a minecraft block.

Last week, I attended a press-preview for Tron: Legacy at the London IMAX, where the film was screened in 3D. It's an extremely fun bit of entertainment, with some surprises, loads of nostalgic pandering to the sort of person who saw the original Tron as a kid (such as me), and some interesting commercial notes. — Read the rest

Polygon Playground is an interactive art installation where graphics are mapped onto a multifaceted climbing/lounging structure. Based on the impressive video, it seems ideal for a nightclub, or Tron theme park. From the project page:

It offers room for up to 40 persons at a time to walk, sit and explore its multifaceted surfaces.